


Jasmine

by Pineapple Flavor (gameofthorins)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Concubine AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 13:03:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7641412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gameofthorins/pseuds/Pineapple%20Flavor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jaehyun is captured and sold by raiders his life takes a direction he never could have predicted. He strives to find a way back to his brother and to his old home but a kind, steadfast stranger leaves him confused as to what he wants and where he truly belongs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jasmine

 

The desert night was cold and black asthe men huddled together around their fire while the horses and camels stood watch in the shadows. The sky was deep blue and already a vastness of stars shone through the ether, witnessing the merchants resting in their encampment.

This was to be the last stretch of their journey home and as Jaehyun watched his father relay another story to his men he couldn’t be happier that it was almost over. For the past eight months he had been traveling with his father and brother Jeno, taking part in their father’s merchant business, a business that they would inherit and were expected to sustain before passing on to their own sons. The buying and selling of goods from across the continents had been their family trade for decades and they were respected in their city as some of the best tradesmen in the region if not the whole nation.

His father did not usually go on trips himself to obtain these goods but one night over dinner he simply exclaimed, “OLD! I am getting old and soon enough I won’t have the energy to so much as get out of bed, let alone go on a journey!” His wife had heard this complaint before and so she did not even look up from her food.

“You boys” he said, pointing at Jaehyun and Jeno, who were sitting across from him and were used to receiving criticisms from their father, “are soft as overripe peaches and are not showing the appropriate amount of interest in the business that will carry you and your families for the rest of your lives. I think…yes, I think it’s time that I showed you two the true nature of this industry, so that you can understand it and respect it as I do. You’ve never traveled anywhere that didn’t take more than a few days to reach…well, that changes now, whether you like it or not.”

So the plans for their journey were made, in spite of the boys’ protestations and the tears of the mother and sister, and within a few months they were saying their goodbyes and embarking on the longest journey of their lives.

Jaehyun had been strongly attached to his hometown and the quality of life he knew there but he could not deny that these eight months had been some of the best of his life. The amount of things he had learned about the world and its fantastic variety of life was irreplaceable. But even the best journeys have an end and the closer one gets to home the stronger the pull and the need to reach that which is so dear and familiar to us.

He watched his father now with a soft expression. He had learned so much about the man and found that he loved him more in this moment than he ever had before their journey, seeing him in his moments of vulnerability and stress and feeling pride for the way the man handled himself with clients and other tradesmen. He found he actually respected him now as a person and not just because he was the head of their household and he valued the ways in which this venture had strengthened their relationship.

Jeno, who had been leaning on Jaehyun’s shoulder, was beginning to doze off, his head slowly sinking until it was almost in his brother’s lap. Jaehyun laughed and propped his brother up.

“I think it’s time you went to sleep.”

“I’m not tired.”

“Of course you’re not,” Jaehyun said, already lifting up his little brother and carrying him into their caravan.

The last thing Jaehyun could recall hearing before the screaming started was the sound of his own father’s rich, sincere laughter.

 

Then…chaos. 

 

 

The first thing Jaehyun thought to do was hide Jeno.He rushed to lock the door of their caravan before tearing back a small tapestry to reveal a hidden cupboard in the fore of the structure.

Jaehyun pulled Jeno towards him with one hand while prying the cupboard open with the other.

“Get inside!”

“No! I have to help! Listen---“

More screaming and, even more chilling, the sound of screams being cut short. The horses were whinnying in panic and men were shouting. Jaehyun knew any moment now the caravan door would be opened and it would be too late. They couldn’t waste time.

He looked into his brother’s dimly lit eyes and saw his own raw fear reflected in them. They gripped each other, terrified and wondering _by god, what was happening?_

“Jeno, listen to me. It’s going to be alright. I promise I’ll come back for you but you need to do what I say right now and hide in here."

His little brother was breathing hard and his face glistened with tears.

“No. I don’t want to leave you. What if you're killed? What if--” Jeno’s voice was tight and small and Jaehyun’s own heart was breaking but for his brother’s sake he could not afford to lose control.

“Jeno, we don’t have time!” he said, cutting him off, and without waiting for a response he shoved his brother into the confining space.

“Hyung..."

“I promise I’ll come back for you. I promise.” He held his brother’s hand one last time.

“Stay quiet.”

Then he shut the door and pulled the tapestry over it. All of this had taken place within the span of a few minutes.

 

Jaehyun’s heart pounded as he leaned against the caravan door, gripping the handle of the knife at his belt and struggling against the instinct to hide himself as well instead of facing whatever monsters lay on the other side. But just as he undid the lock the door was pulled open with such force it came off its hinges.

He fell forward onto the sand and dirt and as he did he caught a glimpse of the men surrounding him. Black robes and half hidden faces, long blades with blood-stained edges in hand.

They laughed and roughly pulled him to his feet. In the firelight all he could see were the silhouettes of bodies upon the ground and of robed men leaning down to check if any were still breathing. He only realized now that it was quiet once again and the only sounds were those of the raiders and of their steeds.

“This one thought he could hide, did he?”

A burly raider in front yanked Jaehyun’s hair back so he could get a better look at his face. The force of it made his scalp sting and tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

“Pretty enough to be a whore, this one. Might get some good coin for him.”

The other raiders laughed and some nodded in agreement. Jaehyun trembled and struggled against the strong hands gripping him, frantically turning his head and trying to find his father’s form amidst the bodies but all the while praying he wouldn’t.

_Oh, father, where are you? Don’t be dead. Dear God, don’t let him be dead._

“Let me see him.”

The voice that spoke was low and authoritative and from the body language of the other raiders Jaehyun knew instinctively that the man approaching him was the leader. He was tall and lean but Jaehyun had no doubt he was strong as an ox.

The man put a hand under Jaehyun’s chin and studied his face. This gentle physical contact seemed to bring some clarity back to Jaehyun and he found his voice in the midst of his own internal chaos.

“Where’s my father?” His voice was unstable and sounded weak even to his own ears but the lead raider heard him and their eyes caught on each other’s like hooks.

“Who was your father?”

_Was._

Jaehyun’s fear then furthered into anger.

“He was the leader of our troupe and a good man. We’re just merchants, you had no right to attack us!”

The leader gazed at him dispassionately.

“Pirates have no right to attack civilian ships and yet they do and that is how they live. You’re not exempt from loss or larceny just because you spend your life abiding by the law and being decent. If your father was the leader then his head’s probably rolled itself into a snake hole by now. You can go find it if you like or you can come with us.”

“You bastard!”

Jaehyun struggled against his captors again but his efforts were feeble and useless. He felt sick. Tears cut tracks through the dust on his cheeks. _This can’t be happening._

“I’d cut your face your up for that comment if I didn’t think it would lower your value.”

“Fuck you!” Jaehyun spat at him even as the two raiders restraining him began to bind his arms and legs with rope.

The man chuckled. The other raiders, seeing that their leader had clearly made a decision about their prisoner, dispersed and began collecting the goods.

“Language like that will get you a beating from your master. Take the prisoner to the horses and make sure he doesn’t escape. If he becomes difficult knock him out.”

Jaehyun was about say something acid to the man when a rag was shoved in his mouth. It tasted sour and smelled like old sweat and once again he had to fight back the urge to vomit. He no longer held the leader’s interest and was borne away into the shadows and made to watch as the fruits of his father’s labors were pillaged while the bodies of his men were dragged to side of the road and left for the carrion birds. Jaehyun tried to push away the thought of his father’s headless body among them. Had Jeno heard everything—

 

_JENO!_

 

Jaehyun couldn’t believe he’d let himself think Jeno was safe in that small cavity. He watched as men ransacked their small caravan, taking anything that looked valuable. He prayed that the darkness would keep the door edges masked, prayed that Jeno wasn’t suffocating in that restrictive space, prayed that whatever else happened that night at least Jeno would have some chance of survival.

Hours passed but Jaehyun stayed alert, his mind going over all the possibilities. He didn’t think running away right now would do him any good, if he got killed or got lost in the desert how could he help his brother? If they captured Jeno too maybe they could form some kind of plan of escape together, but what if they were both sold into slavery and forced apart before they could do so? His stomach turned at the thought of his brother being sold into bondage, maybe even made into a body slave.

_Please no. God no. Anything but that._

The sand was grey and a cold predawn blue permeated the world when the raiders finally finished their work and made ready to return to wherever it was they haled from. The rag was tugged from Jaehyun's mouth and he hissed in pain when his bonds were cut and the blood rushed to his wrists and ankles. One of his guards mounted the horse that had been standing behind Jaehyun the whole night and brought the animal to a trot so it stood in front of their prisoner. The two guards eyed him and made gestures for him to mount the horse as well.

Jaehyun didn’t need any of that, of course, he knew immediately they wanted him to get on. His reluctance was not from fear for his own life but fear for his brother and what would happen once they were separated. How would his brother get through the desert without supplies? Should he simply reveal his brother and hope that luck was with them?

The guards mistook his hesitation for prideful insubordination and before he could do anything about it he received a quick, well-aimed punch to the gut for his supposed impudence.

Jaehyun doubled over in pain, his eyes watered, blurring his vision.

Sweat dripped down his temple as he hissed through gritted teeth.

“Fuck.”

The guard beside Jaehyun tugged his head up by his bangs and put his masked face close. Jaehyun cringed when he felt the man’s warm, foul breath through the thin fabric covering his mouth.

“You either get on this horse or be dragged by it.”

Not seeing any other option, Jaehyun righted himself and clumsily mounted the Arabian, placing himself behind the raider. Another raider on horseback unsheathed his blade and Jaehyun jumped (he would later berate himself for being so easily frightened) as the edge was held to his throat while the guard still on foot bound Jaehyun’s wrists once more.

Jaehyun could see now the entirety of their camp site was spotted black with blood and the bodies of the men he had traveled with, some of them since the very start of their journey, were piled on the side like garbage. He knew somewhere in that pile were the remains of his father and his heart broke at the thought that they would never join the remains of their family as they should have.

 _It’s not right_ , he thought. _Dying out here in middle of nowhere and for no other reason than to make a profit. My father deserved better, they all did._

It was not yet full daylight when they finally rode away and Jaehyun turned his head and watched the empty caravans shrink into the distance.

With no one there but his guard to hear, Jaehyun began to weep in earnest.

He wept for his father and his comrades and especially for his brother, whom he knew he might never see again in this life.

 

_I’m so sorry, Jeno. I’m so sorry to have to leave you like this._

_But I’ll come back for you._

_I promise._

_I'll do everything in my power to find you_

 

_...and bring you home._


End file.
